Rio bucovina, the romanian producer and distributor of natural mineral waters and soft drinks, recently reduced energy usage by up to 47% by installing a new sidel sbo10 universal 2eco blow moulder at

The lightest bottles in the Romanian market produced with 47% energy savings

30/06/2015

At the same time, it also collaborated with the Sidel
Services™ packaging team on a stylish new bottle design for its
still water. Through developing the new design, which included
adopting the international 29/25 short-neck bottle
standard across the range of sizes, the weight of the bottles
was reduced by up to 45%. Rio Bucovina is now producing the
lightest bottles in the Romanian market.

Longstanding partnership with Sidel

Rio Bucovina is a major player in the Romanian fast moving
consumer goods (FMCG) market where it figures in the top three
producers of natural mineral water. The company produces a
wide array of beverages and foodstuffs at its two production sites.
This includes the bottling of 'Bucovina' still and carbonated
natural mineral water, and the production of 'La Vitta' branded
water. The company also produces soft drinks under the brand names
'Rio', 'La Vitta', 'Malibu' and 'BonTon', and an energy drink with
the brand name 'Golden Horse'. Besides these, Rio Bucovina
distributes a wide range of food and other items.

Rio Bucovina has long been a customer of Sidel, the leading
global provider of PET solutions for liquid packaging, to whom the
company first turned in 1993. That was when it purchased two
Sidel

SBO16 blow moulders. One was installed at the bottling
plant in Vatra Dornei, the well-known spa and ski resort in the
Carpathian Mountains in north-eastern Romania, for the production
of both still and sparkling water. The second Sidel SBO16
blow moulder was purchased for bottling soft drinks at the Rio
Bucovina plant in Timisoara in western Romania, the third biggest
city in the country in terms of population.

Flexibility, reliability and energy savings

Following the success of these projects and the trust built
between both companies over more than 20 years, Rio Bucovina has
recently acquired another Sidel blow moulder for its Vatra Dornei
plant. On this occasion, the company has selected the SBO10
Universal 2eco, choosing it for its flexibility
and its reliability coupled with the technical support that the
company knew Sidel was capable of providing, having experienced it
first-hand for the two decades of their working relationship.
Cristian Serban, Business Development Director of Rio Bucovina,
says: "Having worked with the company for over 20 years now, we
know the good work we can expect from Sidel. The SBO Universal
2eco, along with its Ecoven, has substantially cut costs for us,
reducing the new line's energy consumption by 47% when compared to
other blow moulders we might have chosen."

The Ecoven technology requires fewer heating modules and lamps,
with the preform-heating time reduced by up to 15%. Power
consumption of the ovens is therefore substantially decreased and
the use of installed power lowered. As well as providing a
wide process window, the Ecoven's large heating reserve and fast
heating ensures there is no slow-down in production, whatever kind
of preform is used. It also delivers excellent heat treatment
precision, which ensures identical bottle characteristics and
quality. Rio Bucovina also benefits from the air consumption
reduction of the SBO Universal 2eco range due to improved
efficiency in the air circuits, integrated cylinders, solenoid and
flow limiters. This equates to additional savings in production
costs.

The lightest bottles on the Romanian market

Rio Bucovina also launched redesigned
Bucovina bottles, characterised by their very modern and elegant
approach. Compared to the previous bottles, the attractive new
designs weigh considerably less - 31.5 grams compared to 43 grams
for 2 litre bottles; 24 grams compared to 39 grams for 1.5 litre
bottles; and 12 grams compared to 22 grams for 0.5 litre bottles.
Cristian continues: "The Sidel packaging design team listened to
our branding needs for the new bottles and implemented our goals in
the final shapes. Most importantly, they worked with us to optimise
the lightweighting opportunity available to us. As a result,
the stylish new bottles that the team optimised for us, which
reflects everything we asked of Sidel, are the lightest bottles in
the Romanian market - with a significant weight reduction of some
45%. The installation of the Sidel SB010 Universal 2eco has
enabled us to move to the 29/25 standard - with the direct result
of achieving the lightweighting benefits. This has naturally led to
a more environmentally friendly production process, as well as
substantial savings."

Bottled water dominates the Romanian market

In Romania, bottled water is in demand because it is
inexpensively priced and is perceived as a 'natural' soft
drink. It is also seen as a much healthier and reliable
option in comparison to the quality of tap water generally
available throughout the country, especially in Bucharest and other
large cities. Domestic manufacturers, most of whom have been
supplying the country with bottled mineral water for decades,
dominate the market through tradition, brand recognition and
affordable pricing.

Sales of water have been undergoing an annual growth of around
5% over the past two years, which has mainly seen the consolidation
of leading brands. This moderate growth is the result of
penetration into households of all income levels. Although
carbonated or 'sparkling' water has a larger, established consumer
base, mostly through the heavy consumption of traditional 'spritz'
- the combination of carbonated water with wine - still bottled
water has moved ahead in terms of volume growth over the past
couple of years. However, the decrease in Romanian consumers'
spending power has led to their growing acceptance of cheaper
water.

By introducing the Sidel blow moulder, Rio Bucovina is in an
excellent position to build on its already strong position in this
market with a lightweight, modern and attractive bottle produced
through a blowing process which is more environmentally
friendly.